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Walk Through Walls: A Memoir
“I had experienced absolute freedom—I had felt that my body was without boundaries, limitless; that pain didn’t matter, that nothing mattered at all—and it intoxicated me.”
In 2010, more than 750,000 people stood in line at Marina Abramović’s MoMA retrospective for the chance to sit across from her and communicate with her nonverbally in an unprecedented durational performance that lasted more than 700 hours. This celebration of nearly fifty years of groundbreaking performance art demonstrated once again that Marina Abramović is truly a force of nature.
The child of Communist war-hero parents under Tito’s regime in postwar Yugoslavia, she was raised with a relentless work ethic. Even as she was beginning to build an international artistic career, Marina lived at home under her mother’s abusive control, strictly obeying a 10 p.m. curfew. But nothing could quell her insatiable curiosity, her desire to connect with people, or her distinctly Balkan sense of humor—all of which informs her art and her life. The beating heart of Walk Through Walls is an operatic love story—a twelve-year collaboration with fellow performance artist Ulay, much of which was spent penniless in a van traveling across Europe—a relationship that began to unravel and came to a dramatic end atop the Great Wall of China.
Marina’s story, by turns moving, epic, and dryly funny, informs an incomparable artistic career that involves pushing her body past the limits of fear, pain, exhaustion, and danger in an uncompromising quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. A remarkable work of performance in its own right, Walk Through Walls is a vivid and powerful rendering of the unparalleled life of an extraordinary artist.
In 2010, more than 750,000 people stood in line at Marina Abramović’s MoMA retrospective for the chance to sit across from her and communicate with her nonverbally in an unprecedented durational performance that lasted more than 700 hours. This celebration of nearly fifty years of groundbreaking performance art demonstrated once again that Marina Abramović is truly a force of nature.
The child of Communist war-hero parents under Tito’s regime in postwar Yugoslavia, she was raised with a relentless work ethic. Even as she was beginning to build an international artistic career, Marina lived at home under her mother’s abusive control, strictly obeying a 10 p.m. curfew. But nothing could quell her insatiable curiosity, her desire to connect with people, or her distinctly Balkan sense of humor—all of which informs her art and her life. The beating heart of Walk Through Walls is an operatic love story—a twelve-year collaboration with fellow performance artist Ulay, much of which was spent penniless in a van traveling across Europe—a relationship that began to unravel and came to a dramatic end atop the Great Wall of China.
Marina’s story, by turns moving, epic, and dryly funny, informs an incomparable artistic career that involves pushing her body past the limits of fear, pain, exhaustion, and danger in an uncompromising quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. A remarkable work of performance in its own right, Walk Through Walls is a vivid and powerful rendering of the unparalleled life of an extraordinary artist.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published October 25, 2016
About the author
Marina Abramović
83 books648 followersSince the beginning of her career in Belgrade during the early 1970s, Marina Abramovic has pioneered performance as a visual art form, creating some of the most important early works. The body has always been both her subject and medium. Exploring her physical and mental limits in works that ritualize the simple actions of everyday life, she has withstood pain, exhaustion and danger in her quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. From 1975–88, Abramovic and the German artist Ulay performed together, dealing with relations of duality. Abramovic returned to solo performances in 1989.
She has presented her work at major institutions in the US and Europe, including the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven,1985; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1990; Neue National Galerie, Berlin, 1993, and the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 1995. She has also participated in many large-scale international exhibitions including the Venice Biennale (1976 and 1997) and Documenta VI, VII and IX, Kassel (1977, 1982 and 1992). Recent performances include "The House With The Ocean View" at Sean Kelly Gallery, New York in 2002, and the Performance "7 Easy Pieces" at Guggenheim Museum, New York in 2005. In 2010, Abramovic had her first major U.S. retrospective and simultaneously performed for over 700 hours in “The Artist is Present” at Museum of Modern Art, New York. Using herself and the public as medium, Abramovic performed for three months at the Serpentine Gallery in London, 2014; the piece was titled after the duration of the work, “512 Hours”.
She was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Artist at the 1997 Venice Biennale for the video installation and performance “Balkan Baroque.” In 2008 she was decorated with the Austrian Commander Cross for her contribution to Art History. In 2013, the French Minister of Culture accepted her as an Officer to the Order of Arts and Letters. In addition to these and other awards, Abramovic also holds multiple honorary doctorates from institutions around the world.
Abramovic founded the Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI), a platform for immaterial and long durational work to create new possibilities for collaboration among thinkers of all fields. The institute inhabited its most complete form to date in 2016 in collaboration with NEON in “As One”, Benaki Museum, Athens.
She has presented her work at major institutions in the US and Europe, including the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven,1985; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1990; Neue National Galerie, Berlin, 1993, and the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 1995. She has also participated in many large-scale international exhibitions including the Venice Biennale (1976 and 1997) and Documenta VI, VII and IX, Kassel (1977, 1982 and 1992). Recent performances include "The House With The Ocean View" at Sean Kelly Gallery, New York in 2002, and the Performance "7 Easy Pieces" at Guggenheim Museum, New York in 2005. In 2010, Abramovic had her first major U.S. retrospective and simultaneously performed for over 700 hours in “The Artist is Present” at Museum of Modern Art, New York. Using herself and the public as medium, Abramovic performed for three months at the Serpentine Gallery in London, 2014; the piece was titled after the duration of the work, “512 Hours”.
She was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Artist at the 1997 Venice Biennale for the video installation and performance “Balkan Baroque.” In 2008 she was decorated with the Austrian Commander Cross for her contribution to Art History. In 2013, the French Minister of Culture accepted her as an Officer to the Order of Arts and Letters. In addition to these and other awards, Abramovic also holds multiple honorary doctorates from institutions around the world.
Abramovic founded the Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI), a platform for immaterial and long durational work to create new possibilities for collaboration among thinkers of all fields. The institute inhabited its most complete form to date in 2016 in collaboration with NEON in “As One”, Benaki Museum, Athens.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,671 reviews
July 11, 2019
I don't even have words for how much I adored this book. (My one-word Goodreads review before I finishing gathering my thoughts was just 'Perfection'.) Let's get this out of the way: Serbian performance artist Marina Abramović is a controversial figure, and much as I'd love to shove her ghostwritten memoir into everyone's hands, I must admit that there are plenty of people who will remain thoroughly unmoved by it, and that's completely fine. But I also want to clarify that I don't think it's essential for a reader to love or understand or even be familiar with her art in order to appreciate this. The best thing to be while picking up this book is open-minded.
Personally I love contemporary art, I love performance art, and I love Marina Abramović, so this was always going to work for me. But it still managed to exceed my expectations; I think I was anticipating entertaining and instead I got revelatory. I did study Art History in college and am hardly a stranger to thinking critically about what art is, so I wasn't expecting my perception of that question to be so shaken by Abramović's perspective. Art and life are fundamentally inextricable concepts to her, which she explores throughout her career in a series of daring, unconventional performance pieces, which are chronicled in this book with vividly descriptive imagery. This book, as well as Marina's career, is a testament to her unbelievable ability to push her body to its limits, and using her own physicality to connect with her audience. The way her performances build upon and interact with one another is delineated here with clarity: I genuinely feel enriched from this new understanding I have of her work and what she has tried, and has succeeded, to achieve.
Even outside of her art (though she would probably frown upon making this distinction), Marina's life is a constant source of fascination. This reads more like autobiography than memoir, as it's heavy on fact and chronology and light on emotional analysis, but this isn't a criticism. Marina is presented in this book as an open, vulnerable figure, her methods and ideology made accessible through a thorough excavation of her life, from childhood to present day.
If you're interested in Marina Abramović but aren't a big nonfiction reader, the novel The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose is a brilliant depiction of her 2010 show The Artist is Present. Otherwise, I really couldn't recommend Walk Through Walls: A Memoir highly enough.
Personally I love contemporary art, I love performance art, and I love Marina Abramović, so this was always going to work for me. But it still managed to exceed my expectations; I think I was anticipating entertaining and instead I got revelatory. I did study Art History in college and am hardly a stranger to thinking critically about what art is, so I wasn't expecting my perception of that question to be so shaken by Abramović's perspective. Art and life are fundamentally inextricable concepts to her, which she explores throughout her career in a series of daring, unconventional performance pieces, which are chronicled in this book with vividly descriptive imagery. This book, as well as Marina's career, is a testament to her unbelievable ability to push her body to its limits, and using her own physicality to connect with her audience. The way her performances build upon and interact with one another is delineated here with clarity: I genuinely feel enriched from this new understanding I have of her work and what she has tried, and has succeeded, to achieve.
Even outside of her art (though she would probably frown upon making this distinction), Marina's life is a constant source of fascination. This reads more like autobiography than memoir, as it's heavy on fact and chronology and light on emotional analysis, but this isn't a criticism. Marina is presented in this book as an open, vulnerable figure, her methods and ideology made accessible through a thorough excavation of her life, from childhood to present day.
If you're interested in Marina Abramović but aren't a big nonfiction reader, the novel The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose is a brilliant depiction of her 2010 show The Artist is Present. Otherwise, I really couldn't recommend Walk Through Walls: A Memoir highly enough.
February 18, 2022
Obcowanie z tak wielką artystką absolutną było dla mnie wspaniałym doświadczeniem, nawet jeśli jedynie za pośrednictwem słów przelanych na papier.
February 29, 2024
چهار و نیم ستاره
من از هنر هیچ چیز نمیفهمم. اما شانسم اینه که خواهرم هنریه و دریچهی من به این دنیاست. اولین بار که دربارهی پرفورمنسهای مارینا آبراموویچ شنیدم رو فراموش نمیکنم. مرجان با شور و شوق از «ریتم صفر» برام تعریف کرد و عکسهاش رو بهم نشون داد
زنی در کنار میزی ایستاده بود که پر از وسایل مختلف بود. چیزهایی مثل پر، عسل، قیچی، عطر و حتی یک تفنگ و گلوله. از تماشاگران خواسته شده بود که هرکاری دوست دارند با زن و بدنش انجام بدن. همه چیز آروم شروع شد. یکی دستهاش رو بالا برد. یکی با پر نوازشش کرد. بعد یکی با تیغ لباسش رو برید. یکی گلوش رو کمی برید و خونش رو مکید. در آخر یکی اسلحه رو بلند کرد که متوقف شد. در تمام این شش ساعت، زن مثل یک شی ایستاد و هیچ چیز نگفت. ولی تماشاگران تبدیل به خود اجرا شدند
من شیفتهی این پرفورمنس شدم. شیفتهی چیزی که راجع به روان انسان میگه و اینکه آبراموویچ چطور آدمها رو با خودشون رو به رو کرد. این کتاب زندگینامهی همین زن، یکی از موفقترین هنرمندان عصر ما، از زبان خودشه
آبراموویچ از اولِ اول داستان زندگیش رو شروع میکنه. از بزرگ شدن در بلگراد کمونیستی با پدر و مادری از ردههای بالای دولت. از بزرگ شدن در رفاه مادی اما در کنترل شدید مادرش و بدون محبت. بعد کمکم تعریف میکنه که چطور مسیر هنر رو شروع میکنه، عاشق اولای، زوج هنریش میشه و به شهرت میرسه
تمام مدتی که داستان زندگیش رو با صدای خودش گوش میدادم به این فکر میکردم که بعضی آدمها در یک زندگی حقیقتاً به اندازهی دهها نفر زندگی رو تجربه میکنند. مارینا با بومیهای استرالیا مدتها در صحرا زندگی کرده، دیوار چین رو چهار ماه پیاده طی کرده، مدتها در تبت و هند مدیتیشنهای مختلف و طاقتفرسا رو تجربه کرده و در کشورهای مختلفی زندگی کرده
زندگی هنریش حتی از این هم پربارتره. از خوبیهای این کتاب اینه که تکتک پرفورمنسهاش رو توضیح میده و از دلیل اجرا و حسش میگه. مارینا آبراموویچ به تحت فشار گذاشتن روان و بدنش برای خلق هنر معروفه. پرفورمنسهای زیادی داری که ساعتها میشینه، گرسنگی میکشه و عریان خودش رو به در و دیوار میکوبه
آیا من همش رو درک میکنم؟ نه. آیا با اعتقاد شدیدش به اسپریچوالیتی و ماوراءالطبیعه موافقم؟ نه. مغز منطقی من بهم اجازه نمیده. اما اینها دقیقاً دلایلیه که از این کتاب نهایت لذت رو بردم. چون این زن نقطه مخالف منه
از زیباییهای دیگهی این زندگینامه دیدن چهرهی دیگهای از ماریناست که اون هنرمند قوی و آسیبناپذیر نیست. اینکه تمام زندگیش رو به دنبال عشق میگرده و نمیخواد تنها باشه. افسرده میشه و زیر پتو میمونه. اینکه میفهمی اینا واقعا تجربههای مشترک انسانی هستند
اما دو نقطه ضعف برای من داشت. یکی طولانی بودنش بود که حس میکردم میتونست خیلی بهتر ویرایش بشه و دومی گوش دادن با صدای خودش بود. با اینکه از طرفی خیلی دوست دارم کتابها رو با صدای نویسنده گوش بدم، حقیقت اینه که همه نمیتونن خیلی خوب کتاب رو اجرا کنند و گاهی اجرا خیلی خشک بود
ساعتهای طولانی گوش دادن به این کتاب در اتوبوس در سفر تولد سیسالگیم همیشه یادم میمونه
کانال تلگرام ریویوها و دانلود کتابها و صوتیشون
Maede's Books
۱۴۰۲/۱۲/۹
من از هنر هیچ چیز نمیفهمم. اما شانسم اینه که خواهرم هنریه و دریچهی من به این دنیاست. اولین بار که دربارهی پرفورمنسهای مارینا آبراموویچ شنیدم رو فراموش نمیکنم. مرجان با شور و شوق از «ریتم صفر» برام تعریف کرد و عکسهاش رو بهم نشون داد
زنی در کنار میزی ایستاده بود که پر از وسایل مختلف بود. چیزهایی مثل پر، عسل، قیچی، عطر و حتی یک تفنگ و گلوله. از تماشاگران خواسته شده بود که هرکاری دوست دارند با زن و بدنش انجام بدن. همه چیز آروم شروع شد. یکی دستهاش رو بالا برد. یکی با پر نوازشش کرد. بعد یکی با تیغ لباسش رو برید. یکی گلوش رو کمی برید و خونش رو مکید. در آخر یکی اسلحه رو بلند کرد که متوقف شد. در تمام این شش ساعت، زن مثل یک شی ایستاد و هیچ چیز نگفت. ولی تماشاگران تبدیل به خود اجرا شدند
من شیفتهی این پرفورمنس شدم. شیفتهی چیزی که راجع به روان انسان میگه و اینکه آبراموویچ چطور آدمها رو با خودشون رو به رو کرد. این کتاب زندگینامهی همین زن، یکی از موفقترین هنرمندان عصر ما، از زبان خودشه
آبراموویچ از اولِ اول داستان زندگیش رو شروع میکنه. از بزرگ شدن در بلگراد کمونیستی با پدر و مادری از ردههای بالای دولت. از بزرگ شدن در رفاه مادی اما در کنترل شدید مادرش و بدون محبت. بعد کمکم تعریف میکنه که چطور مسیر هنر رو شروع میکنه، عاشق اولای، زوج هنریش میشه و به شهرت میرسه
تمام مدتی که داستان زندگیش رو با صدای خودش گوش میدادم به این فکر میکردم که بعضی آدمها در یک زندگی حقیقتاً به اندازهی دهها نفر زندگی رو تجربه میکنند. مارینا با بومیهای استرالیا مدتها در صحرا زندگی کرده، دیوار چین رو چهار ماه پیاده طی کرده، مدتها در تبت و هند مدیتیشنهای مختلف و طاقتفرسا رو تجربه کرده و در کشورهای مختلفی زندگی کرده
زندگی هنریش حتی از این هم پربارتره. از خوبیهای این کتاب اینه که تکتک پرفورمنسهاش رو توضیح میده و از دلیل اجرا و حسش میگه. مارینا آبراموویچ به تحت فشار گذاشتن روان و بدنش برای خلق هنر معروفه. پرفورمنسهای زیادی داری که ساعتها میشینه، گرسنگی میکشه و عریان خودش رو به در و دیوار میکوبه
آیا من همش رو درک میکنم؟ نه. آیا با اعتقاد شدیدش به اسپریچوالیتی و ماوراءالطبیعه موافقم؟ نه. مغز منطقی من بهم اجازه نمیده. اما اینها دقیقاً دلایلیه که از این کتاب نهایت لذت رو بردم. چون این زن نقطه مخالف منه
از زیباییهای دیگهی این زندگینامه دیدن چهرهی دیگهای از ماریناست که اون هنرمند قوی و آسیبناپذیر نیست. اینکه تمام زندگیش رو به دنبال عشق میگرده و نمیخواد تنها باشه. افسرده میشه و زیر پتو میمونه. اینکه میفهمی اینا واقعا تجربههای مشترک انسانی هستند
اما دو نقطه ضعف برای من داشت. یکی طولانی بودنش بود که حس میکردم میتونست خیلی بهتر ویرایش بشه و دومی گوش دادن با صدای خودش بود. با اینکه از طرفی خیلی دوست دارم کتابها رو با صدای نویسنده گوش بدم، حقیقت اینه که همه نمیتونن خیلی خوب کتاب رو اجرا کنند و گاهی اجرا خیلی خشک بود
ساعتهای طولانی گوش دادن به این کتاب در اتوبوس در سفر تولد سیسالگیم همیشه یادم میمونه
کانال تلگرام ریویوها و دانلود کتابها و صوتیشون
Maede's Books
۱۴۰۲/۱۲/۹
January 21, 2024
An impressive tale of how the performance artist became present in the art world and the broader society. This book makes you want to be an artist, minus the abusive childhood. - 3,5 stars
Childhood, budding artistry and a Great Love (and Wall)
Walk Through Walls: A Memoir starts chatty and up close, like boom and the story starts with the childhood of Marina Abramović, in communist Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Marina has privilege as a daughter of war heroes, growing up amongst books and art in the luscious apartment that was confiscated from jews during the war. Marina grew up at her grandmother, with her parents in high up party roles. Physical punishment, boys being more important and growing up with maids being more present than her quarreling parents, come back a lot in the first chapters. At six, when she needed to spend almost a year in a hospital due to a blood disease, she describes this time as the best of her life.
Her father was notorious for his love for women and named her after a Russian soldier who was blown up in front of him. Her mother not just beat her, but loved order so much she woke Marina up at night when she slept to messy and crumpled the sheet.
From her childhood and love for art we soon have Marina join a student art centre, exponent from the 1968 student uprisings. Here she discovers the Arte Povera and performance art. The Rhytm series, full of knives and taking the body to the extreme, is impressive. Especially the violence that ensues from the cultured group in Rhytm 0 makes you feel Abramovic uncovered something essential of human nature.
And then Marina meets Ulay in Amsterdam. Already from the start Abramovic indicates the feeling of their relationship being special and their performance are visceral and bordering on crazy in terms of demands on their bodies. There are idyllic stories of travelling Europe and the US in a car and crazy life stories of eccentric friends they live with in an Amsterdam warehouse.
Amsterdam in general (also as one of the three cities, together with New York and Belgrade she wants to have a grave as part of her "final performance") comes back a lot, as does the Dutch government as sponsor of her arts and art centres like De Appel and the Holland Festival. Nice to see how our small country helped the rise of an artist so iconic to performance arts.
Rest Energy is a poetic performance of Ulay and Marina holding a bow, literally giving one’s life in another’s hands and the story of the Great Wall of China walk is breathtaking, how from a wild idea this is in the end made real, but also signals the end of the relationship between the duo.
Spirituality, far away places and success
Spirituality is very important to Marina, already in her youth we have stories that she sees ghosts in closets and at key decisions she goes to soothsayers and flips coins for answers. At the aboriginals in Australia this is even further enhanced and we hear of telepathy and visions
Wilderness in the Amazon, the outback of Australia, India, Venice, The Great Wall, Belgrade, Amsterdam, New York, the succession of places she visits after she gains more and more success and a reputation in the art world is dazzling. All the while we see turbulent love affairs with younger men, most of the time ending rather tragically for Marina.
Energy, aura’s, unexplainable phenomenons, visions, mindfulness, focus on experience, yoga retreats.
So avant garde how what she did in the 80's and 90's in a diluted form is now common place in our society.
We have meetings with Rem Koolhaas, Susan Sontag, the Dalai Lama, the artistic lead of Givenchy, other artists, Lady Gaga, TED talks:(https://www.ted.com/talks/marina_abra...).
The last part of the book misses for me the rapturous energy and drive, focussed on getting her at her first performances. It’s less about the physical extremes and more about narrating a well deserved international jetset life, and a vision of making performance scaleable and taken serious in the art world and broader society.
Therefor overall I feel this was a 3,5 stars book for me, but a definite recommended read for anyone interested in modern art!
Quotes from the Dutch edition:
Ik weet inmiddels dat geen enkele houding prettiger is dan een andere. Zelfs de prettigste houding wordt na een tijdje ondragelijk.
Om iets te bereiken, moet je álles geven tot je niets meer overhebt. En dan gebeurt het vanzelf.
Ik wil niet meer willen.
Childhood, budding artistry and a Great Love (and Wall)
Walk Through Walls: A Memoir starts chatty and up close, like boom and the story starts with the childhood of Marina Abramović, in communist Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Marina has privilege as a daughter of war heroes, growing up amongst books and art in the luscious apartment that was confiscated from jews during the war. Marina grew up at her grandmother, with her parents in high up party roles. Physical punishment, boys being more important and growing up with maids being more present than her quarreling parents, come back a lot in the first chapters. At six, when she needed to spend almost a year in a hospital due to a blood disease, she describes this time as the best of her life.
Her father was notorious for his love for women and named her after a Russian soldier who was blown up in front of him. Her mother not just beat her, but loved order so much she woke Marina up at night when she slept to messy and crumpled the sheet.
From her childhood and love for art we soon have Marina join a student art centre, exponent from the 1968 student uprisings. Here she discovers the Arte Povera and performance art. The Rhytm series, full of knives and taking the body to the extreme, is impressive. Especially the violence that ensues from the cultured group in Rhytm 0 makes you feel Abramovic uncovered something essential of human nature.
And then Marina meets Ulay in Amsterdam. Already from the start Abramovic indicates the feeling of their relationship being special and their performance are visceral and bordering on crazy in terms of demands on their bodies. There are idyllic stories of travelling Europe and the US in a car and crazy life stories of eccentric friends they live with in an Amsterdam warehouse.
Amsterdam in general (also as one of the three cities, together with New York and Belgrade she wants to have a grave as part of her "final performance") comes back a lot, as does the Dutch government as sponsor of her arts and art centres like De Appel and the Holland Festival. Nice to see how our small country helped the rise of an artist so iconic to performance arts.
Rest Energy is a poetic performance of Ulay and Marina holding a bow, literally giving one’s life in another’s hands and the story of the Great Wall of China walk is breathtaking, how from a wild idea this is in the end made real, but also signals the end of the relationship between the duo.
Spirituality, far away places and success
Spirituality is very important to Marina, already in her youth we have stories that she sees ghosts in closets and at key decisions she goes to soothsayers and flips coins for answers. At the aboriginals in Australia this is even further enhanced and we hear of telepathy and visions
Wilderness in the Amazon, the outback of Australia, India, Venice, The Great Wall, Belgrade, Amsterdam, New York, the succession of places she visits after she gains more and more success and a reputation in the art world is dazzling. All the while we see turbulent love affairs with younger men, most of the time ending rather tragically for Marina.
Energy, aura’s, unexplainable phenomenons, visions, mindfulness, focus on experience, yoga retreats.
So avant garde how what she did in the 80's and 90's in a diluted form is now common place in our society.
We have meetings with Rem Koolhaas, Susan Sontag, the Dalai Lama, the artistic lead of Givenchy, other artists, Lady Gaga, TED talks:(https://www.ted.com/talks/marina_abra...).
The last part of the book misses for me the rapturous energy and drive, focussed on getting her at her first performances. It’s less about the physical extremes and more about narrating a well deserved international jetset life, and a vision of making performance scaleable and taken serious in the art world and broader society.
Therefor overall I feel this was a 3,5 stars book for me, but a definite recommended read for anyone interested in modern art!
Quotes from the Dutch edition:
Ik weet inmiddels dat geen enkele houding prettiger is dan een andere. Zelfs de prettigste houding wordt na een tijdje ondragelijk.
Om iets te bereiken, moet je álles geven tot je niets meer overhebt. En dan gebeurt het vanzelf.
Ik wil niet meer willen.
May 11, 2020
يكي از بهترين كتاب هايي كه خوندم،واقعا هرچي در وصفش بگم كم گفتم.حتما حتما پيشنهاد ميشه خوندش اميدوارم شما هم بعد خوندش كلي احساس خوبي داشته باشيد🥰
July 7, 2023
Kiedy mówię, że kocham kobiety to właśnie TO mam na myśli
December 29, 2019
,,I realized that being an artist meant having immense freedom. If I wanted to create something from dust or rubbish, I could do it." - M.A.
Meno performanco mociute vadinamos, Marinos Abramovic, memuarai/dienorastis/dokumentika gali ikvepti ir suzaveti daugeli. Ir ne tik besidomincius vaizduojamuoju menu. Savo istorija Marina pasakoja labai paprastai, su humoru/ironija....ir kas mane pakerejo - labai jau atvirai. Knyga pravartu perskaityti, kad pasitikrintume savo miescionizmo ar snobizmo lygi.
Bet rasytoja tai ji labai prasta.
3.9*
Meno performanco mociute vadinamos, Marinos Abramovic, memuarai/dienorastis/dokumentika gali ikvepti ir suzaveti daugeli. Ir ne tik besidomincius vaizduojamuoju menu. Savo istorija Marina pasakoja labai paprastai, su humoru/ironija....ir kas mane pakerejo - labai jau atvirai. Knyga pravartu perskaityti, kad pasitikrintume savo miescionizmo ar snobizmo lygi.
Bet rasytoja tai ji labai prasta.
3.9*
December 21, 2019
I have burned enough calories to rate this, a review will be added soon
.........................................................................
Not one of those awful characters out of a movie that gushes out the past while the violins play
A pretty rough childhood, devastating upbringing, dysfunctional family, communism, savage mental and physical punishments, fear, deep feelings of shame, discrimination, bleeding soul, rejection, rerejections, frustrating and dysfunctional relationship, solitude, pain, abortin, betrayal, belittled sunk so low to ask the love of her life to have a ménage à trois with her and his lover, ungrateful brother, and ... well in real life if you meet someone putting these all behind, you may congratulate them for merely surviving! Instead, you see her simply dusting off her soul and body, getting down to the business and turning out to rock.
Pure Nudity
Marina is honest in telling her story, her soul and her mind are totally naked, she is speaking her mind out loud, it is as if she is doing a psychological surgery on herself, as wild as possible, unravelling her deepest scars. This provides one with the courage to feel the fear of whatever one is afraid of, experiencing it to the fullest and then DO sth about it. I did, I faced one of my phobias and I was inspired by her bravery. Before reading her memoir, I liked Marina and thought of her as a strong woman, but now I don't like her, I do respect this lady, I envy her, she is a self-made whatever she is.
Hats off to James Kaplan
Great job man, reading every single sentence of the book was exactly as if I had Marina with me and hear her telling me about her story. I laughed, cried, went crazy, and experienced her intimate company through your words.
If one day I would be offered to write a memoir I want you to be my ghostwriter :)
After writing this review a whole clump of my hair had turned grey
Boy oh boy, it was hard to rate this book... I totally understand the fact that some people want to be religious, spiritual and blah blah blah ...yet I don't get the reason beyond their attempt to drop the jaws of women and men of science. I mean if you enjoy sth, then just enjoy it, you can even keep bragging about it, but what do u get out of trying to prove science wrong? Remember, science never fails and if you don't believe in it, you'd better unfriend me before I have the privilege to block you.
On some pages, I found Marina hardly trying to attack common sense and strive for questioning science, that was unbearable so I practised my scanning skill on those pages. If I get a remarkable score on my reading section in IELTS exam, Marina I owe it to your memoir! Another thing which saved me from this hell of absurdity and stupidity was the parallel read I did, whenever I was about to put down this book I went for Stephan Hawking's last book to wash all the nonsense away.
Matching soundtrack:
Even dead things feel your love by Petter Carlsen
.........................................................................
Not one of those awful characters out of a movie that gushes out the past while the violins play
A pretty rough childhood, devastating upbringing, dysfunctional family, communism, savage mental and physical punishments, fear, deep feelings of shame, discrimination, bleeding soul, rejection, rerejections, frustrating and dysfunctional relationship, solitude, pain, abortin, betrayal, belittled sunk so low to ask the love of her life to have a ménage à trois with her and his lover, ungrateful brother, and ... well in real life if you meet someone putting these all behind, you may congratulate them for merely surviving! Instead, you see her simply dusting off her soul and body, getting down to the business and turning out to rock.
Pure Nudity
Marina is honest in telling her story, her soul and her mind are totally naked, she is speaking her mind out loud, it is as if she is doing a psychological surgery on herself, as wild as possible, unravelling her deepest scars. This provides one with the courage to feel the fear of whatever one is afraid of, experiencing it to the fullest and then DO sth about it. I did, I faced one of my phobias and I was inspired by her bravery. Before reading her memoir, I liked Marina and thought of her as a strong woman, but now I don't like her, I do respect this lady, I envy her, she is a self-made whatever she is.
Hats off to James Kaplan
Great job man, reading every single sentence of the book was exactly as if I had Marina with me and hear her telling me about her story. I laughed, cried, went crazy, and experienced her intimate company through your words.
If one day I would be offered to write a memoir I want you to be my ghostwriter :)
After writing this review a whole clump of my hair had turned grey
Boy oh boy, it was hard to rate this book... I totally understand the fact that some people want to be religious, spiritual and blah blah blah ...yet I don't get the reason beyond their attempt to drop the jaws of women and men of science. I mean if you enjoy sth, then just enjoy it, you can even keep bragging about it, but what do u get out of trying to prove science wrong? Remember, science never fails and if you don't believe in it, you'd better unfriend me before I have the privilege to block you.
On some pages, I found Marina hardly trying to attack common sense and strive for questioning science, that was unbearable so I practised my scanning skill on those pages. If I get a remarkable score on my reading section in IELTS exam, Marina I owe it to your memoir! Another thing which saved me from this hell of absurdity and stupidity was the parallel read I did, whenever I was about to put down this book I went for Stephan Hawking's last book to wash all the nonsense away.
Matching soundtrack:
Even dead things feel your love by Petter Carlsen
October 4, 2020
Geras menas, BET nelabai įdomūs paaiškinimai apie tą meną.
Įdomi istorija, ypač iš jaunystės Serbijoje, BET nuo trečdalio pasikeičia į "didžiosios meilės, kurios mane išdavė" ir "nuostabūs žmonės, kurie man padėjo siekti to, ką pasiekiau".
Paprastas, patrauklus pasakojimo stilius, BET ŠAKĖS KIEK DAUG tokio second-hand new-age dvasingumo.
Apskritai visai nieko knyga, smagiai skaitosi, kaip kokie pletkai, tik vietomis akys vartosi, pvz kai ji kalbėjosi mintimis su Australijos aborigenais, ir norėjo pasikviesti į performansą kažkokį jogą, kuris neva išbūna kelias dienas po vandeniu, bet sakė, kad negalės dalyvauti performanse, kurį matys žmonės, nes tik dėl RELIGINIŲ priežasčių gali išbūti po vandeniu. Sure.
Ir, aišku, liūdna pasidaro, kai jai nesiseka, ir laikai špygas, kad sektųsi, ir faina, kad sekasi, bet pabaigi skaityti ir viskas daugmaž užsimiršta, išskyrus gal tą Serbijos jaunystę, kur tikrai įdomiai papasakota, su aplinka, santykiais ir keistenybėmis, ir tokių suprantamų jaunystės dalykų, pvz kaip ji namie bandė nugriūti ant lovos atramos ir susilaužyti nosį, nes tikėjosi, kad tada jai ligoninėje padarys plastinę nosies operaciją, ir turėjo kišenėje nuotrauką kažkokios aktorės su neva gražia nosimi, kad galėtų parodyti daktarams iškart, kokios nosies norėtų (nepaėjo, beje).
Ir jos performansai man nuoširdžiai patinka (gal tie ankstyvieji labiau, bet nu žmogus daro, kas jam tuo metu atrodo gerai, netiražuosi juk visą gyvenimą to paties), bet kai kurie paaiškinimai vėl kiek gadina - pvz kai įtaisė kokias tai akmenines kėdes galerijoje: vieną pasiekiamą atsisėsti, o kitą prie lubų, ir pavadino "For Human and Inhuman (kažkam)". Faina idėja, bet, pasirodo, kitas fotelis turėjo būti skirtas lankytojo SIELAI, ir lankytojas turėtų matyti tą savo sielą ant aukštesnio akmeninio fotelio, kai pats sėdi ant žemesnio. Nu tikrai, geriau būtų buvę šito nežinoti, juk gali prisigalvoti daug įdomesnių interpretacijų, negu fakin SIELĄ ANT KĖDUTĖS.
Sakyčiau, verta skaityti, jei mėgstate, kai menininkai pasakoja apie savo meną, ir nesibaidote dvasingumo.
Jei nelabai mėgstate ir baidotės, tai gal vis tiek verta, bet, sakyčiau, tik pirmą trečdalį.
Įdomi istorija, ypač iš jaunystės Serbijoje, BET nuo trečdalio pasikeičia į "didžiosios meilės, kurios mane išdavė" ir "nuostabūs žmonės, kurie man padėjo siekti to, ką pasiekiau".
Paprastas, patrauklus pasakojimo stilius, BET ŠAKĖS KIEK DAUG tokio second-hand new-age dvasingumo.
Apskritai visai nieko knyga, smagiai skaitosi, kaip kokie pletkai, tik vietomis akys vartosi, pvz kai ji kalbėjosi mintimis su Australijos aborigenais, ir norėjo pasikviesti į performansą kažkokį jogą, kuris neva išbūna kelias dienas po vandeniu, bet sakė, kad negalės dalyvauti performanse, kurį matys žmonės, nes tik dėl RELIGINIŲ priežasčių gali išbūti po vandeniu. Sure.
Ir, aišku, liūdna pasidaro, kai jai nesiseka, ir laikai špygas, kad sektųsi, ir faina, kad sekasi, bet pabaigi skaityti ir viskas daugmaž užsimiršta, išskyrus gal tą Serbijos jaunystę, kur tikrai įdomiai papasakota, su aplinka, santykiais ir keistenybėmis, ir tokių suprantamų jaunystės dalykų, pvz kaip ji namie bandė nugriūti ant lovos atramos ir susilaužyti nosį, nes tikėjosi, kad tada jai ligoninėje padarys plastinę nosies operaciją, ir turėjo kišenėje nuotrauką kažkokios aktorės su neva gražia nosimi, kad galėtų parodyti daktarams iškart, kokios nosies norėtų (nepaėjo, beje).
Ir jos performansai man nuoširdžiai patinka (gal tie ankstyvieji labiau, bet nu žmogus daro, kas jam tuo metu atrodo gerai, netiražuosi juk visą gyvenimą to paties), bet kai kurie paaiškinimai vėl kiek gadina - pvz kai įtaisė kokias tai akmenines kėdes galerijoje: vieną pasiekiamą atsisėsti, o kitą prie lubų, ir pavadino "For Human and Inhuman (kažkam)". Faina idėja, bet, pasirodo, kitas fotelis turėjo būti skirtas lankytojo SIELAI, ir lankytojas turėtų matyti tą savo sielą ant aukštesnio akmeninio fotelio, kai pats sėdi ant žemesnio. Nu tikrai, geriau būtų buvę šito nežinoti, juk gali prisigalvoti daug įdomesnių interpretacijų, negu fakin SIELĄ ANT KĖDUTĖS.
Sakyčiau, verta skaityti, jei mėgstate, kai menininkai pasakoja apie savo meną, ir nesibaidote dvasingumo.
Jei nelabai mėgstate ir baidotės, tai gal vis tiek verta, bet, sakyčiau, tik pirmą trečdalį.
June 18, 2023
واپسین شب که حسام همه ی کتابها را گسترده بود کف اتاق و گفت هر کدام را که خواهانی بردار برای خواندن، هیچ گمان نمی کردم که عبور از دیوارها اینچنین خودش را نشانم دهد؛ آنجا در آن شبِ سراسر مستی و خوشی. از همان هنگام که چاپ نخست درآمده بود می خواستم بخوانمش که پیش نیامده بود. و ما
که از همه ی دیوارها گذر کرده بودیم به خیالات خودمان گویی تازه باید از نو می خواندیم گذر از دیوارها را که رویشان نوشته بود زن زندگی آزادی و شتک زده بود خونِ سرخ، رنگِ بالای همه ی رنگها روی تمام دیوارها
پس به یاد می سپارم زیستن در زمانه ای را که اگر هزاران دیوار هم دور تا دورمان کشیده باشند ناگزیریم از گذر ناگزیرِ دیوارها با رنگ خونِ سرخ که ابدیتِ ناپدیدِ ما را، باشد که روشن خواهد کرد. به یاد می سپارم تن های برهنه ای را روی سنگِ مرمرِ با رگه های سرخ که شکوه سپیدِ انسان بودن را در رهایی از دستانِ تباهی و سیهای برای خاطر بیمار ما فریاد می کشید
سومِ اسپندماهانِ چهارده هیچ یک خورشیدی
در گذز از دیوارها
که از همه ی دیوارها گذر کرده بودیم به خیالات خودمان گویی تازه باید از نو می خواندیم گذر از دیوارها را که رویشان نوشته بود زن زندگی آزادی و شتک زده بود خونِ سرخ، رنگِ بالای همه ی رنگها روی تمام دیوارها
پس به یاد می سپارم زیستن در زمانه ای را که اگر هزاران دیوار هم دور تا دورمان کشیده باشند ناگزیریم از گذر ناگزیرِ دیوارها با رنگ خونِ سرخ که ابدیتِ ناپدیدِ ما را، باشد که روشن خواهد کرد. به یاد می سپارم تن های برهنه ای را روی سنگِ مرمرِ با رگه های سرخ که شکوه سپیدِ انسان بودن را در رهایی از دستانِ تباهی و سیهای برای خاطر بیمار ما فریاد می کشید
سومِ اسپندماهانِ چهارده هیچ یک خورشیدی
در گذز از دیوارها
March 29, 2020
4/5
I really, really loved this book. And, mind you, I knew almost nothing about Marina prior to reading this. I’m more of a basic b when talking about art( I just like to admire a good old fashioned painting and that’s pretty much it) but reading this book opened my eyes so much about how complex and mind bending performance art can be. She’s a truly amazing, out of this world performer and yet such a flawed human being.
I loved her honesty and how raw she was in writing this book, maybe that’s why I felt so close to her. I just couldn’t wait to get home and listen to her more (audiobook read by the author). I can’t tell how much of the enjoyment was just me and my personal taste and how others would rapport to her work and story and voice, but it’s totally worth a try.
I really, really loved this book. And, mind you, I knew almost nothing about Marina prior to reading this. I’m more of a basic b when talking about art( I just like to admire a good old fashioned painting and that’s pretty much it) but reading this book opened my eyes so much about how complex and mind bending performance art can be. She’s a truly amazing, out of this world performer and yet such a flawed human being.
I loved her honesty and how raw she was in writing this book, maybe that’s why I felt so close to her. I just couldn’t wait to get home and listen to her more (audiobook read by the author). I can’t tell how much of the enjoyment was just me and my personal taste and how others would rapport to her work and story and voice, but it’s totally worth a try.
August 4, 2023
Was listening to this in audio on 'Libby', the app for library users--and ran out of time. Awful to have it snatched away right in the middle.
It's an astonishing memoir by Abramovic, probably the most famous still-practicing performance artist. It's a fascinating life and she reads the audio herself, such a treat to hear not only the Serbian accent, but the measured, matter-of-fact way she recounts the MOST outrageous performances--most involve some kind of harrowing, almost masochistic element. There's a lot of testing of trust and possibility/certainty of bloodshed. Few people on earth would want to do what she does--most would probably question whether it's art. But she doesn't justify or psychologize it. She takes things to extremes to see what will happen--and we have to accept that this is a valid inquiry into expression, endurance, symbolic meaning, to really understand the story.
What an unusual, extreme human being. The straightforwardness of her description forces the reader to accept her on her own terms. Just a hint of this kind of commitment to what outwardly might seem a generally quixotic project: to prepare for her Great Wall of China walk, planned for years by her and her lover/soulmate Ulay (they even share a birthday), where the couple walked from each end of the Great Wall, to meet in the middle. But now they're falling apart--yet still plan to do it. It changes the meaning of the piece considerably. To get her act together for that project, she decides to do a 'Green Tara' retreat at a monastery near Dharamasala India. 3 months of silence, chanting the name of Green Tara 1,111,111 times. That's not even the walk. That's the prep. I can't imagine an artist more devoted, more committed, willing to go to any lengths to fulfill her vision.
And it's just as honest about her personal life and the extremes and the chances--art and life are one.
I can't wait for my Libby hold to come around again and finish this story.
+++++++
BACK ON! Just keeps getting better. She and Ulay have split up, she has a fantastic piece in the Venice Biennale the year she turns 50, they gave her the worst space--in the basement, no AC--in the International pavilion. A look at art and politics/art/politics, when Montenegro (her native country post Yugoslavia) invites her to represent itself and Serbia--in the middle of the war--and then reneges as if they never offered it to her, in favor of some Socialist Realist landscape painter.
She mounts a piece about war, a moving, tough piece that required her to sit on a pile of clean bones and meat-covered bones--which went maggoty in the four days of the piece--cleaning the bones as the videos display interviews with her parents, another with her in scientific gear telling a gruesome story she had heard from a rat catcher... She won the Golden Lion, best artist at the Biannale that year.
The story of this remarkable woman continues to unfold--so glad to be back in it!
++++++
Finished! Mesmerizing. What a portrait of absolute commitment to art, to the experiment that art is,, pushing the boundaries of the body, the mind, contact with the unseen--she takes us through the various performances of the last twenty years, including the most well known--the Artist Is Present, where she sat for three months, daily for eight hours, ten on weekends, not moving, in the atrium of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, opposite a stream of visitors who brought their own energy and sat as long as they wanted. Her exploration of 'long duration performance' has given birth to an institute, teaching the public the commitment and the endurance and the sensitivity of the artist--her 'presence'. One's presence. Any artist will find this book inspirational, and readers will have a look inside one of the most interesting figures of our time. Loved listening to this in audio, her matter of fact tone was the perfect counterweight to the extremes of this art form.
Sanity? Insanity? What is performance? Is it art? Why would someone do something like that to themselves? Such radical commitment at the bottom of it. She explains the difference between theater and performance art is that in performance, everything is real. The knives are real, the blood is real, the hardship is real. But working with Willem Dafoe in a theater piece, the Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, she opens to the possibility that theater is also real, that what the actor does, through his commitment, is as real as anything.
The book never stops rewarding us. I'll be thinking about her for a long, long time.
It's an astonishing memoir by Abramovic, probably the most famous still-practicing performance artist. It's a fascinating life and she reads the audio herself, such a treat to hear not only the Serbian accent, but the measured, matter-of-fact way she recounts the MOST outrageous performances--most involve some kind of harrowing, almost masochistic element. There's a lot of testing of trust and possibility/certainty of bloodshed. Few people on earth would want to do what she does--most would probably question whether it's art. But she doesn't justify or psychologize it. She takes things to extremes to see what will happen--and we have to accept that this is a valid inquiry into expression, endurance, symbolic meaning, to really understand the story.
What an unusual, extreme human being. The straightforwardness of her description forces the reader to accept her on her own terms. Just a hint of this kind of commitment to what outwardly might seem a generally quixotic project: to prepare for her Great Wall of China walk, planned for years by her and her lover/soulmate Ulay (they even share a birthday), where the couple walked from each end of the Great Wall, to meet in the middle. But now they're falling apart--yet still plan to do it. It changes the meaning of the piece considerably. To get her act together for that project, she decides to do a 'Green Tara' retreat at a monastery near Dharamasala India. 3 months of silence, chanting the name of Green Tara 1,111,111 times. That's not even the walk. That's the prep. I can't imagine an artist more devoted, more committed, willing to go to any lengths to fulfill her vision.
And it's just as honest about her personal life and the extremes and the chances--art and life are one.
I can't wait for my Libby hold to come around again and finish this story.
+++++++
BACK ON! Just keeps getting better. She and Ulay have split up, she has a fantastic piece in the Venice Biennale the year she turns 50, they gave her the worst space--in the basement, no AC--in the International pavilion. A look at art and politics/art/politics, when Montenegro (her native country post Yugoslavia) invites her to represent itself and Serbia--in the middle of the war--and then reneges as if they never offered it to her, in favor of some Socialist Realist landscape painter.
She mounts a piece about war, a moving, tough piece that required her to sit on a pile of clean bones and meat-covered bones--which went maggoty in the four days of the piece--cleaning the bones as the videos display interviews with her parents, another with her in scientific gear telling a gruesome story she had heard from a rat catcher... She won the Golden Lion, best artist at the Biannale that year.
The story of this remarkable woman continues to unfold--so glad to be back in it!
++++++
Finished! Mesmerizing. What a portrait of absolute commitment to art, to the experiment that art is,, pushing the boundaries of the body, the mind, contact with the unseen--she takes us through the various performances of the last twenty years, including the most well known--the Artist Is Present, where she sat for three months, daily for eight hours, ten on weekends, not moving, in the atrium of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, opposite a stream of visitors who brought their own energy and sat as long as they wanted. Her exploration of 'long duration performance' has given birth to an institute, teaching the public the commitment and the endurance and the sensitivity of the artist--her 'presence'. One's presence. Any artist will find this book inspirational, and readers will have a look inside one of the most interesting figures of our time. Loved listening to this in audio, her matter of fact tone was the perfect counterweight to the extremes of this art form.
Sanity? Insanity? What is performance? Is it art? Why would someone do something like that to themselves? Such radical commitment at the bottom of it. She explains the difference between theater and performance art is that in performance, everything is real. The knives are real, the blood is real, the hardship is real. But working with Willem Dafoe in a theater piece, the Life and Death of Marina Abramovic, she opens to the possibility that theater is also real, that what the actor does, through his commitment, is as real as anything.
The book never stops rewarding us. I'll be thinking about her for a long, long time.
April 25, 2024
W wielu momentach nie rozumiem podejścia do życia Mariny, nie rozumiem też jej sztuki, doświadczenia o jakich ona opowiada są w wielu płaszczyznach mi obce.
Nie mniej jest to wspaniała i fascynująca opowieść. Mam wrażenie, że mimo że czytałam książkę, to spotkałam prawdziwą osobę i dane mi było zajrzeć w głąb jej duszy.
Nie mniej jest to wspaniała i fascynująca opowieść. Mam wrażenie, że mimo że czytałam książkę, to spotkałam prawdziwą osobę i dane mi było zajrzeć w głąb jej duszy.
March 13, 2020
Re-read--sped through it just like last time!
Inspiring story :)
FIRST REVIEW:
Incredible!
One of the great things about Marina's story is that it surely inspired a rigorous dedication to it telling in the ghost writer, who has meticulously constructed a narrative that it's impossible not to read in Marina's voice.
It's insane the number of times she's been prepared to die for art, and I get the feeling she isn't done trying yet.
The men in her life were mostly bullshit, and a handful of the women weren't that much better either—but the ones who loved her along the path made sure her audience continued to build until today, when she effectively has a global stage.
Thanks to a ridiculously risky real estate deal decades ago, she wouldn't have needed to work ever again—but try telling that to her.
Essential reading to fans and non-fans alike, about the trials and tribulations of life, and how they never really stop, but about what is possible to achieve with practice and dedication—with detailed description of what that dedication consists of.
Inspiring story :)
FIRST REVIEW:
Incredible!
One of the great things about Marina's story is that it surely inspired a rigorous dedication to it telling in the ghost writer, who has meticulously constructed a narrative that it's impossible not to read in Marina's voice.
It's insane the number of times she's been prepared to die for art, and I get the feeling she isn't done trying yet.
The men in her life were mostly bullshit, and a handful of the women weren't that much better either—but the ones who loved her along the path made sure her audience continued to build until today, when she effectively has a global stage.
Thanks to a ridiculously risky real estate deal decades ago, she wouldn't have needed to work ever again—but try telling that to her.
Essential reading to fans and non-fans alike, about the trials and tribulations of life, and how they never really stop, but about what is possible to achieve with practice and dedication—with detailed description of what that dedication consists of.
September 22, 2023
The 2010 show at MOMA in New York, “The Artist is Present” cemented Marina Abramovic’s brand –either a testament to the power of her work or to the extensive social media used to promote and circulate her performance. Abramovic was initially part of the avant-garde, focusing on an area of artistic practice rooted in resistance to the commodification of art. But Abramovic’s somehow managed to transform herself and her work into high-status, high-profile commodity in step with the hierarchical, success-obsessed, contemporary art world. Abramovic’s ghost-written memoir chronicles her life from a childhood as the neglected, abused daughter of elite communist party members in post-WW2 Yugoslavia to international art star. Yet her book’s curiously thin on details about art. Her representation of the ideas informing her work is often cursory, sometimes coming across as unexpectedly naïve. For someone like me who’s, at best, ambivalent about Abramovic there’s nothing here likely to alter my views. Instead, this is very much a close-up of Abramovic’s personal experiences and opinions. I couldn’t help comparing this unfavourably to memoirs I’ve enjoyed by women like Viv Albertine, Cosey Fanni Tutti and Patti Smith, unlike these there’s no clear and compelling image presented here of wider cultural contexts. There’re also far too many instances of the kind of flavourless prose that seems a common feature of the ghost-written autobiography. Although I'm grateful the apparently "racist" observations that caused a stir when excerpts were previewed have been dialled back.
Yet I found it hard not to admire Abramovic’s tenacity and self-belief, as well as her ability to exploit the possibilities of her work in a male-dominated environment, and in doing so elevate the status of performance art as a genre. Personally, I’d have liked more on the artists and gallerists she encountered like Ricky Demarco or Fluxus members like the legendary Joseph Beuys. I’d also have appreciated a clearer sense of how the pieces she’s performed link to broader movements and influences: her early “Rhythm O,” for example, sounds like an extension of what Yoko Ono was doing in the 60s with “Cut Piece” but without the underlying conceptual sophistication. From her descriptions Abramovic’s process seems to be more instinctual than anything else, and although she references ideological concerns there’s no impression of anything that has the sustained political force I associate with figures like feminist Annie Sprinkle or Bob Flanagan, who also pushed his body to the limits in his practice but in doing so made persuasive statements about bodies and disability. Abramovic frequently cites her interest in the interaction between artist and audience but that seems to me a given in any performance-based art. She also talks at various points about her belief systems but these seem to be based on piecemeal plundering of other cultures – Tibetan Buddhist, "Aboriginal" Australian – mixed up with vague notions about cosmic consciousness, mindfulness, and ley lines blended into a ragbag, incoherent, personal philosophy. An irritating mixture that’s far too reminiscent of the shallow spiritualism popular in segments of the 60s’ counterculture and - more recently - resurrected in spin-offs from Western New Age movements.
The things I’d like to have seen explored, for example Abramovic’s transition from marginal artist to popular celebrity, linked to people like Lady GaGa, Jay-Z, and even Kim Kardashian, aren’t really covered here. One day she’s travelling around immersed in the art sphere, the next she’s magically working with fashion designers and being covered in popular magazines, the performance-art equivalent of figures like Warhol and Damien Hirst. I find it hard to accept this transition was as organic as her memoir suggests. I also wondered about the role of trauma in her process, certainly trauma’s represented as a fundamental part of her formative years but it’s not something she articulates in any depth here. And perhaps lack of depth is the fundamental problem I had with this. Previously I'd only encountered Abramovic through her work, I didn't find it particularly convincing but it sometimes raised intriguing questions and associations, after reading this account of surprisingly-superficial concepts and muddled intentions that's no longer an option.
Yet I found it hard not to admire Abramovic’s tenacity and self-belief, as well as her ability to exploit the possibilities of her work in a male-dominated environment, and in doing so elevate the status of performance art as a genre. Personally, I’d have liked more on the artists and gallerists she encountered like Ricky Demarco or Fluxus members like the legendary Joseph Beuys. I’d also have appreciated a clearer sense of how the pieces she’s performed link to broader movements and influences: her early “Rhythm O,” for example, sounds like an extension of what Yoko Ono was doing in the 60s with “Cut Piece” but without the underlying conceptual sophistication. From her descriptions Abramovic’s process seems to be more instinctual than anything else, and although she references ideological concerns there’s no impression of anything that has the sustained political force I associate with figures like feminist Annie Sprinkle or Bob Flanagan, who also pushed his body to the limits in his practice but in doing so made persuasive statements about bodies and disability. Abramovic frequently cites her interest in the interaction between artist and audience but that seems to me a given in any performance-based art. She also talks at various points about her belief systems but these seem to be based on piecemeal plundering of other cultures – Tibetan Buddhist, "Aboriginal" Australian – mixed up with vague notions about cosmic consciousness, mindfulness, and ley lines blended into a ragbag, incoherent, personal philosophy. An irritating mixture that’s far too reminiscent of the shallow spiritualism popular in segments of the 60s’ counterculture and - more recently - resurrected in spin-offs from Western New Age movements.
The things I’d like to have seen explored, for example Abramovic’s transition from marginal artist to popular celebrity, linked to people like Lady GaGa, Jay-Z, and even Kim Kardashian, aren’t really covered here. One day she’s travelling around immersed in the art sphere, the next she’s magically working with fashion designers and being covered in popular magazines, the performance-art equivalent of figures like Warhol and Damien Hirst. I find it hard to accept this transition was as organic as her memoir suggests. I also wondered about the role of trauma in her process, certainly trauma’s represented as a fundamental part of her formative years but it’s not something she articulates in any depth here. And perhaps lack of depth is the fundamental problem I had with this. Previously I'd only encountered Abramovic through her work, I didn't find it particularly convincing but it sometimes raised intriguing questions and associations, after reading this account of surprisingly-superficial concepts and muddled intentions that's no longer an option.
January 12, 2024
I came to this after having been overwhelmed by Abramovic's recent retrospective at the RA: this is an interesting introduction to the life of this divisive artist but don't expect it to be illuminating about her art - she doesn't seem to have an intellectual or conceptual underpinning to her art, it seems to be more instinctual than conforming to any kind of manifesto, even a shifting one. So yes, her work is about bodies, pain, death, sex and violence, but also about communication and, especially towards the end with pieces like 'The Artist is Present', about community.
There feels like there's some intentional direction at the start with her choosing performance art, 'immaterial art', as a rebellion against the commoditization and wealth fetishisation of capitalism but that position moves with her pieces like 'Transitory Art for Human Use' (the mineral slabs that audiences are invited to sit, stand or lie against). And there's perhaps less said than I'd have liked about her early, and most deliberately shocking, pieces like the 'Rhythm' series: 'Rhythm 0' where Abramovic laid out 72 objects including knives, chains and a gun and gave her audience permission to do anything they wanted to her body - she still carries the scars - is perhaps the single boldest, most courageous and terrifying art I've experienced. But it remains enigmatic or, rather, there's nothing that the artist adds to the experience (and I've only seen the weapons laid out on the table and still photos from that actual event).
That aside, this is enlightening on Abramovic's personal life: her cold upbringing in the former Yugoslavia, her disturbing relationship with her mother, her long love affair and artistic partnership with Ulay. The transition from young and fresh artist to art world superstar who graces fashion shows and celebrity galas isn't really spelt out and there's certainly lots of annoying 'spiritual' stuff from ley lines to buddhist retreats and supernatural beliefs, and a certain amount of egotism on teaching the Abramovic Method.
But whatever we might think about her, I find Abromovic's art powerful and emotive, challenging and confrontational, not least her attention to issues around female bodies and danger, and the articulation of trauma and anger. She's a bold woman who walks that familiar tightrope between self-belief and self-doubt - and this book might skim the surface but is intriguing and interesting at the same time.
And it's worth adding that hearing this audio read in Abramovic's own heavily accented voice added to the experience for me.
There feels like there's some intentional direction at the start with her choosing performance art, 'immaterial art', as a rebellion against the commoditization and wealth fetishisation of capitalism but that position moves with her pieces like 'Transitory Art for Human Use' (the mineral slabs that audiences are invited to sit, stand or lie against). And there's perhaps less said than I'd have liked about her early, and most deliberately shocking, pieces like the 'Rhythm' series: 'Rhythm 0' where Abramovic laid out 72 objects including knives, chains and a gun and gave her audience permission to do anything they wanted to her body - she still carries the scars - is perhaps the single boldest, most courageous and terrifying art I've experienced. But it remains enigmatic or, rather, there's nothing that the artist adds to the experience (and I've only seen the weapons laid out on the table and still photos from that actual event).
That aside, this is enlightening on Abramovic's personal life: her cold upbringing in the former Yugoslavia, her disturbing relationship with her mother, her long love affair and artistic partnership with Ulay. The transition from young and fresh artist to art world superstar who graces fashion shows and celebrity galas isn't really spelt out and there's certainly lots of annoying 'spiritual' stuff from ley lines to buddhist retreats and supernatural beliefs, and a certain amount of egotism on teaching the Abramovic Method.
But whatever we might think about her, I find Abromovic's art powerful and emotive, challenging and confrontational, not least her attention to issues around female bodies and danger, and the articulation of trauma and anger. She's a bold woman who walks that familiar tightrope between self-belief and self-doubt - and this book might skim the surface but is intriguing and interesting at the same time.
And it's worth adding that hearing this audio read in Abramovic's own heavily accented voice added to the experience for me.
November 27, 2020
4/5
Vis svarsčiau skaitydama – ką gi Marina man primena? Galiausiai susivokiau. Marina atrodo toks meno Toliatas – savo įsitikinimų per gerklę nekišu, truputį apie viską, truputį apie nieką, ramiu veidu, bet vis tiek truputį galvojant apie pinigą, kuris įkris iš visokių naivuolių, vardan gero tikslo, bet komerciją ir įvaizdį tikrai ne į paskutinę vietą nustumiant. Todėl paprasčiausias įspėjimas visiems, tokiems kaip aš: dvasingumo sienų, per kurias Marinačka eina, čia baisiai daug. Čia Tibeto vienuoliai, kėdės, paliktos dvasioms, kalbėjimas su aborigenais mintimis, nepavykęs performansas, nes į jį neatvyko vienuolis, kuris šiaip išbūna po vandeniu valandų valandas, bet kai reikia tą parodyt prieš auditoriją, tai koją pakiša visokie ten religiniai įsitikinimai – aš ne dėl kitų gi toks dvasingas, nieko čia nedemonstruosiu, nes galias prarasiu. Kur dar Marinos matymai ir numatymai: nuo pasikėsinimo į Joną Paulių II, pajaustos tėvo mirties, aplankiusios ją kaip kokia tais elektros iškrova, iki per nušvitimą numatytas faktas, kad draugė savo kambaryje perstatė.... lovą!!! Nu, supratot.
Vis dėlto, kas baisiai įdomu, tai pats Marinos atvirumo aspektas. Kai rašai knygą apie save, nesunku nuklysti į visokius savęs ir savo gyvenimo pagražinimus. Bet Marina nebijo pasirodyti naivoka, patikli, vis brendanti į tas pačias pelkes. Ji parodo, kad gali būti kiečiausia performansų menininkė pasaulyje, bet jei esi linkusi į toksiškus santykius, kuriuose aklai nematai partnerio neištikimybių, tai niekas netrukdo po 12 metų tokių kančių nerti į dar 12 metų panašaus tipo skausmo. Ir gali kentėti užkietėjusios komunistės motinos nesibaigiantį smurtą, agresiją ir žiaurumą, bet jai užsilenkus gali rasti jos dienoraščius su meilės laiškais meilužiui, ją sužmoginančiais, o tada dejuoti, kad dabar jau ją supranti, dabar viskas aiškėja, viskas beveik atleista. Yra ir tuštybės, gal kiek keliančios šypseną bendrame dvasingumo kontekste, bet vis tiek labai logiškos bet kokiam menininkui: kalbu apie performansą, bet biškį pamėtau visokių ten įtakingų draugelių vardų – ai čia dainą padėjo parašyti Lou Reedas, ai čia atėjo Lady Gaga, ai čia vat aplink sukinėjosi Bjork ir James Franco. Bet visokias tokias žmogiškas kliurkas, neįtikinamus dialogus ir pagrąžintus prisiminimus pagerina tai, kad Marina viską papildo nuotraukomis, dienoraščių ištraukomis. Teko prisiskaityti tiek kritikos apie tai, kad skaityti apie performansus jų nematant yra visai neįdomu, bet man tai buvo pati geriausia knygos dalis – žinoma, turėti vietos savoms meno interpretacijoms smagu, bet palyginti jas su pagrindine paties menininko idėja man visada įdomu ir fantazijos laisvei visiškai nekiša kojos.
Knyga autobiografijų kontekste yra neabejotinas šviesulys. Atviras, nekeliant ne rašytojui jokių neįtikėtinų reikalavimų, dar ir nepaprastai įtraukiantis. Vietomis keliantis šypseną, nes neišvengiama visokių „komunizmo nekenčiu, bet pažiūrėkit, kokie mano tėvai buvo herojai, va 10 puslapių aprašymas apie jų patirtis karuose ir va kiek mama turėjo medalių ir kokia buvo drąsi iki pat mirties, kokia užgrūdinta“, o ir jau anksčiau minėtų pasiplaukiojimų dvasingumo vandenynuose. Bet Marina sugeba prikaustyti dėmesį, įtraukti ir įtikinti, o svarbiausia – knygą paversti tokia bittersweet, truputį sado-mazo pramoga. Bet ar ne tokie ir jos performansai, ne taip paprastuoju būdu būtų galima ir juos apibūdinti? Nepriimu visko kas knygoje parašyta už gryną pinigą, prakeikdama tą savo skepticizmą, bet knygą rekomenduočiau – ir visokiems ne meno, ir ne Marinos fanams, o ypač tiems, kuriuos visi tie dvasingumai baisiai veža – čia vietos paaikčiojimams ir lengvai įtikinamų sukrėtimams ir gyvenimų pakeitimams – apsčiai.
Vis svarsčiau skaitydama – ką gi Marina man primena? Galiausiai susivokiau. Marina atrodo toks meno Toliatas – savo įsitikinimų per gerklę nekišu, truputį apie viską, truputį apie nieką, ramiu veidu, bet vis tiek truputį galvojant apie pinigą, kuris įkris iš visokių naivuolių, vardan gero tikslo, bet komerciją ir įvaizdį tikrai ne į paskutinę vietą nustumiant. Todėl paprasčiausias įspėjimas visiems, tokiems kaip aš: dvasingumo sienų, per kurias Marinačka eina, čia baisiai daug. Čia Tibeto vienuoliai, kėdės, paliktos dvasioms, kalbėjimas su aborigenais mintimis, nepavykęs performansas, nes į jį neatvyko vienuolis, kuris šiaip išbūna po vandeniu valandų valandas, bet kai reikia tą parodyt prieš auditoriją, tai koją pakiša visokie ten religiniai įsitikinimai – aš ne dėl kitų gi toks dvasingas, nieko čia nedemonstruosiu, nes galias prarasiu. Kur dar Marinos matymai ir numatymai: nuo pasikėsinimo į Joną Paulių II, pajaustos tėvo mirties, aplankiusios ją kaip kokia tais elektros iškrova, iki per nušvitimą numatytas faktas, kad draugė savo kambaryje perstatė.... lovą!!! Nu, supratot.
Vis dėlto, kas baisiai įdomu, tai pats Marinos atvirumo aspektas. Kai rašai knygą apie save, nesunku nuklysti į visokius savęs ir savo gyvenimo pagražinimus. Bet Marina nebijo pasirodyti naivoka, patikli, vis brendanti į tas pačias pelkes. Ji parodo, kad gali būti kiečiausia performansų menininkė pasaulyje, bet jei esi linkusi į toksiškus santykius, kuriuose aklai nematai partnerio neištikimybių, tai niekas netrukdo po 12 metų tokių kančių nerti į dar 12 metų panašaus tipo skausmo. Ir gali kentėti užkietėjusios komunistės motinos nesibaigiantį smurtą, agresiją ir žiaurumą, bet jai užsilenkus gali rasti jos dienoraščius su meilės laiškais meilužiui, ją sužmoginančiais, o tada dejuoti, kad dabar jau ją supranti, dabar viskas aiškėja, viskas beveik atleista. Yra ir tuštybės, gal kiek keliančios šypseną bendrame dvasingumo kontekste, bet vis tiek labai logiškos bet kokiam menininkui: kalbu apie performansą, bet biškį pamėtau visokių ten įtakingų draugelių vardų – ai čia dainą padėjo parašyti Lou Reedas, ai čia atėjo Lady Gaga, ai čia vat aplink sukinėjosi Bjork ir James Franco. Bet visokias tokias žmogiškas kliurkas, neįtikinamus dialogus ir pagrąžintus prisiminimus pagerina tai, kad Marina viską papildo nuotraukomis, dienoraščių ištraukomis. Teko prisiskaityti tiek kritikos apie tai, kad skaityti apie performansus jų nematant yra visai neįdomu, bet man tai buvo pati geriausia knygos dalis – žinoma, turėti vietos savoms meno interpretacijoms smagu, bet palyginti jas su pagrindine paties menininko idėja man visada įdomu ir fantazijos laisvei visiškai nekiša kojos.
Knyga autobiografijų kontekste yra neabejotinas šviesulys. Atviras, nekeliant ne rašytojui jokių neįtikėtinų reikalavimų, dar ir nepaprastai įtraukiantis. Vietomis keliantis šypseną, nes neišvengiama visokių „komunizmo nekenčiu, bet pažiūrėkit, kokie mano tėvai buvo herojai, va 10 puslapių aprašymas apie jų patirtis karuose ir va kiek mama turėjo medalių ir kokia buvo drąsi iki pat mirties, kokia užgrūdinta“, o ir jau anksčiau minėtų pasiplaukiojimų dvasingumo vandenynuose. Bet Marina sugeba prikaustyti dėmesį, įtraukti ir įtikinti, o svarbiausia – knygą paversti tokia bittersweet, truputį sado-mazo pramoga. Bet ar ne tokie ir jos performansai, ne taip paprastuoju būdu būtų galima ir juos apibūdinti? Nepriimu visko kas knygoje parašyta už gryną pinigą, prakeikdama tą savo skepticizmą, bet knygą rekomenduočiau – ir visokiems ne meno, ir ne Marinos fanams, o ypač tiems, kuriuos visi tie dvasingumai baisiai veža – čia vietos paaikčiojimams ir lengvai įtikinamų sukrėtimams ir gyvenimų pakeitimams – apsčiai.
January 9, 2022
W działaniach Mariny Abramović odnalazłam to coś już dawno temu, jednak teraz, po przeczytaniu książki, czuje, że jej twórczość będzie oddziaływała na mnie jeszcze przez bardzo długi czas.
January 1, 2018
Ik warm restjes op van Oudejaarsavond, drink er het bodempje bubbels van verleden jaar bij. Verder is er het plan om van 2017 niet veel meer dan het goeie mee te nemen. Mooi plan.
Maar auw, het is buiten het hart gerekend. Vandaag heb ik ‘Walk Through Walls’ uitgelezen, de memoires van Marina Abramović.
Toen ik verleden week, in de kerstperiode van 2017, op een afgelegen plek de rust opzocht en in het boek begon, besloot Marina al snel mij een paar meppen te geven. Ze vertelt (samen met ghostwriter James Kaplan) haar persoonlijke verhaal. Bij zo’n autobiografie moet je natuurlijk op je hoede zijn. Er zijn geen ouders, geliefden, kunstkenners in de buurt die haar kunnen onderbreken om één en ander te nuanceren.
Ik denk dat ik van nature al een behoorlijk achterdochtige lezer ben en het nuanceren al vanaf bladzijde één meeneem. Vanaf pagina één ben ik meegegaan, en Marina heeft me verleden jaar (ha!) al een paar keer tot tranen toe bewogen. Wat een goed boek over het overschrijden van grenzen is dit. In 2018 moet ik nog verder achterhalen waarom het me zo heeft geraakt.
Ze stelt me vragen over mijn eigen principes. Als ze zegt dat ze zit te trillen van angst als er turbulentie is in het vliegtuig, dan denk ik: geen last van. ‘Maar’, voegt ze eraan toe, ’als het om mijn werk gaat, gooi ik alle voorzichtigheid overboord.’ Op dat moment gaan de radertjes in mijn hersenen in het werk.
Ook vandaag heeft ze me bij het uitlezen van haar memoires in mijn maag gestompt en een paar keer de keel dichtgeknepen. De beelden van Ulay (haar ex in de liefde en in de kunst) die tijdens haar performance ‘The Artist is Present’ in het MoMA in New York plotseling tegenover haar ging zitten, zijn ondertussen bekend. Ook ik heb ze gezien.
Het zijn niet hun emoties die mij emotioneerden. Ook nu niet tijdens het lezen. Het is Abramović’ beschrijving van de performance zelf die mij raakt. Ik moet dringend eens drie maanden lang acht uur op een stoel zitten, zonder pauze, zonder eten of drinken, en doe mij maar dagelijks tientallen onbekenden op een stoel voor me.
Het is al even geleden dat ik nog een boek heb gelezen waarvan ik na afloop spijt heb dat ik niet méér ezelsoren heb gemaakt, niet méér namen heb genoteerd. Om maar te zeggen dat ‘Walk Through Walls’ een heel inspirerend boek is. Het perfecte boek, eigenlijk, om 2018 te beginnen en het goeie van 2017 mee te nemen.
Niemand heeft gezegd dat het goeie altijd gemakkelijk is.
Deze bespreking en andere tips vindt u onder TIP op www.bartmoeyaert.com.
‘Walk Through Walls’ is uit het Engels vertaald door Petra C. van der Eerden (en de ultieme corrector had ietsje wakkerder kunnen zijn).
Maar auw, het is buiten het hart gerekend. Vandaag heb ik ‘Walk Through Walls’ uitgelezen, de memoires van Marina Abramović.
Toen ik verleden week, in de kerstperiode van 2017, op een afgelegen plek de rust opzocht en in het boek begon, besloot Marina al snel mij een paar meppen te geven. Ze vertelt (samen met ghostwriter James Kaplan) haar persoonlijke verhaal. Bij zo’n autobiografie moet je natuurlijk op je hoede zijn. Er zijn geen ouders, geliefden, kunstkenners in de buurt die haar kunnen onderbreken om één en ander te nuanceren.
Ik denk dat ik van nature al een behoorlijk achterdochtige lezer ben en het nuanceren al vanaf bladzijde één meeneem. Vanaf pagina één ben ik meegegaan, en Marina heeft me verleden jaar (ha!) al een paar keer tot tranen toe bewogen. Wat een goed boek over het overschrijden van grenzen is dit. In 2018 moet ik nog verder achterhalen waarom het me zo heeft geraakt.
Ze stelt me vragen over mijn eigen principes. Als ze zegt dat ze zit te trillen van angst als er turbulentie is in het vliegtuig, dan denk ik: geen last van. ‘Maar’, voegt ze eraan toe, ’als het om mijn werk gaat, gooi ik alle voorzichtigheid overboord.’ Op dat moment gaan de radertjes in mijn hersenen in het werk.
Ook vandaag heeft ze me bij het uitlezen van haar memoires in mijn maag gestompt en een paar keer de keel dichtgeknepen. De beelden van Ulay (haar ex in de liefde en in de kunst) die tijdens haar performance ‘The Artist is Present’ in het MoMA in New York plotseling tegenover haar ging zitten, zijn ondertussen bekend. Ook ik heb ze gezien.
Het zijn niet hun emoties die mij emotioneerden. Ook nu niet tijdens het lezen. Het is Abramović’ beschrijving van de performance zelf die mij raakt. Ik moet dringend eens drie maanden lang acht uur op een stoel zitten, zonder pauze, zonder eten of drinken, en doe mij maar dagelijks tientallen onbekenden op een stoel voor me.
Het is al even geleden dat ik nog een boek heb gelezen waarvan ik na afloop spijt heb dat ik niet méér ezelsoren heb gemaakt, niet méér namen heb genoteerd. Om maar te zeggen dat ‘Walk Through Walls’ een heel inspirerend boek is. Het perfecte boek, eigenlijk, om 2018 te beginnen en het goeie van 2017 mee te nemen.
Niemand heeft gezegd dat het goeie altijd gemakkelijk is.
Deze bespreking en andere tips vindt u onder TIP op www.bartmoeyaert.com.
‘Walk Through Walls’ is uit het Engels vertaald door Petra C. van der Eerden (en de ultieme corrector had ietsje wakkerder kunnen zijn).
May 19, 2020
https://www.instagram.com/asskaitau/
Rėkti iki balso netekimo? Pjaustyti save, stovėti visiškai nuogai prieš publiką? Nečiaudint išsėdėti prieš žiūrovą 13 valandų? Kam visa tai? Keistuole vadinta M. Abramovič savo karjerą apibūdina kaip pragarą ir didelę kovą, siekiant įrodyti, kad performanso žanras būtų pripažintas kaip ir kitos meno rūšys.
Balkaniška asmeninio gyvenimo ir kūrybos sintezė. Radikaliai atvira, apnuoginanti sielą ir iššaukianti skaitytojų emocijas knyga. Autorė savo memuaruose atskleidžia ne tik sudėtingus santykius su tėvais (jos ir mamos linija man buvo viena stipriausių knygoje ir norėjosi, kuo daugiau), bet ir parodo tikrąjį nepatogų meną. Meną, reikalaujantį fizinės ir dvasinės ištvermės, verčiantį jaustis nejaukiai bei peržengti savo skausmo slenkstį.
Jeigu anksčiau aš nesidomėjau perfomanso žanru, tai po knygos supratau, kad jie tarsi socialiniai eksperimentai, kuriuos galima nagrinėti ne tik per žmogaus galimybių, bet ir psichologinę prizmę.
Kai aš skaičiau šią knygą, sulaukiau kitų skaitytojų žinučių: pavydžiu, kad ją skaitai. Tai dabar aš pavydžiu tiems, kurie dar tik skaitys, nes man užvertus paskutinį puslapį, norėjosi pradėti skaityti iš naujo. Neabejotinai viena stipriausių ir geriausių mano gyvenime skaitytų knygų.
Beje, leidykla "Penguin Books" (išleidusi šią knygą į pasaulį) teigia, kad Lietuva yra viena daugiausiai knygą perkančių šalių. Kas juos labai nustebino, o mane dar labiau džiugina.
Rėkti iki balso netekimo? Pjaustyti save, stovėti visiškai nuogai prieš publiką? Nečiaudint išsėdėti prieš žiūrovą 13 valandų? Kam visa tai? Keistuole vadinta M. Abramovič savo karjerą apibūdina kaip pragarą ir didelę kovą, siekiant įrodyti, kad performanso žanras būtų pripažintas kaip ir kitos meno rūšys.
Balkaniška asmeninio gyvenimo ir kūrybos sintezė. Radikaliai atvira, apnuoginanti sielą ir iššaukianti skaitytojų emocijas knyga. Autorė savo memuaruose atskleidžia ne tik sudėtingus santykius su tėvais (jos ir mamos linija man buvo viena stipriausių knygoje ir norėjosi, kuo daugiau), bet ir parodo tikrąjį nepatogų meną. Meną, reikalaujantį fizinės ir dvasinės ištvermės, verčiantį jaustis nejaukiai bei peržengti savo skausmo slenkstį.
Jeigu anksčiau aš nesidomėjau perfomanso žanru, tai po knygos supratau, kad jie tarsi socialiniai eksperimentai, kuriuos galima nagrinėti ne tik per žmogaus galimybių, bet ir psichologinę prizmę.
Kai aš skaičiau šią knygą, sulaukiau kitų skaitytojų žinučių: pavydžiu, kad ją skaitai. Tai dabar aš pavydžiu tiems, kurie dar tik skaitys, nes man užvertus paskutinį puslapį, norėjosi pradėti skaityti iš naujo. Neabejotinai viena stipriausių ir geriausių mano gyvenime skaitytų knygų.
Beje, leidykla "Penguin Books" (išleidusi šią knygą į pasaulį) teigia, kad Lietuva yra viena daugiausiai knygą perkančių šalių. Kas juos labai nustebino, o mane dar labiau džiugina.
March 27, 2019
Marina yra genijus. Ko gero žodis genijus todėl ir neturi moteriškos giminės atitikmens, nes genijus yra ne žmogus, ne vyras ir ne moteris. Skaičiau pasitaupydama. Neiškentus nuėjau į filmą praeitą šeštadienį. Tai ką skaičiau po filmo, sukėlė trigubą efektą. Jaudina jos neišsenkantis idėjų aruodas, rodos, visa mūzų aibė sėdi jai ant kupros įsikibus į jos ilgus juodus plaukus ir klykia į ausį: daryk, daryk, daryyyk. Jaudina jos biografija nuo vaikystės reikalų iki meilių-nemeilių. Jaudina jos patirtys nuo įsiliejimo į Australijos aborigenų gretas iki Brazilijos šamanų seansų. Sėdžiu su vis dar neužsidarančiais žabtais - koks gilus, koks spalvotas, koks aštrus Marinos asmeninis ir kūrybinis gyvenimas. Jaudina jos noras eiti kiaurai sienas, pažadinant visas žmogiškąsias jusles, atsiverti pasauliui, susilieti su kosmosu per skausmą, per nepatogumus, per kūno ir sielos apsivalymą. Buvo nepaprastai įdomu sužinoti daugiau apie performansą kaip meno rūšį. Įkvepianti Marina, įkvepianti knyga (o dar tas dizainas viršelio!!!). 100 iš 5 žvaigždžių.
"Mane domina tik menas, galintis pakeisti visuomenės ideologiją... Meno kūrinys, orientuotas tik į estetines vertybes, yra neužbaigtas."
"Mane domina tik menas, galintis pakeisti visuomenės ideologiją... Meno kūrinys, orientuotas tik į estetines vertybes, yra neužbaigtas."
January 6, 2023
About 10 years ago I saw the theater production “the life and death of Marina Abramovic”, a production by Bob Wilson, starring Marina Abramovic herself and Willem Dafoe. And that still is one of the most imaginative visual spectacles I have ever seen. So, this autobiography has been on my want-to-read list for a long time. Reading it has clarified quite a bit, especially her sheltered childhood in a “Red Bourgeois” environment in what is now Serbia (then Tito's Yugoslavia) and her eternal obsession with getting love and attention from her very cold mother. A psychologist/psychiatrist can probably explain perfectly why Abramovic always pushed the physical and mental boundaries in her artistic performances, even to the point of masochism, and explicitly went on an exhibitionistic tour. Her ‘performance art’ is not my genre, I must admit, but it remains intriguing.
Like any autobiography, at times this work is strongly apologetic. Abramovic finds it necessary to reveal her love life in great detail and she also settles some scores along the way. The regularly recurring magic-realistic elements are also not really my thing. Towards the end you can notice that she starts to see herself more and more as an institution, and shows off her successes and her parties in the artistic jet set. That means that this book gradually loses its momentum and eventually becomes a narcissistic self-aggrandizement. All in all, a readable overview of one of the most intriguing artists of the past 50 years.
Like any autobiography, at times this work is strongly apologetic. Abramovic finds it necessary to reveal her love life in great detail and she also settles some scores along the way. The regularly recurring magic-realistic elements are also not really my thing. Towards the end you can notice that she starts to see herself more and more as an institution, and shows off her successes and her parties in the artistic jet set. That means that this book gradually loses its momentum and eventually becomes a narcissistic self-aggrandizement. All in all, a readable overview of one of the most intriguing artists of the past 50 years.
December 29, 2019
Abramovič memuarus norėjau perskaityt seniai. Visų pirma dėl to, kad šita knyga žiauriai patiko iš esmės visiems. Tai kaip įprasta ėmė kelt įtarimą ir kirbėjo klausimas – bet nu kaip jau taip viisieeemss? Antra dėl to, kad jau senokai man labai įdomūs jos performansai. Net savo studžiams esu rodžiusi per paskaitą Rhytm 0 (tiesa, paskaita buvo apie skandinavų minimalistinę poeziją, bet aš ten ardžiaus nuo Lyotardo iki Abramovič :D ). Trečia priežastis – tokia bukai asociatyvinė. Tikėjaus, kad bus taip faina kaip Patti Smith „Tiesiog vaikai“, nes nu memuarai, menas, viską, o Smith mane palietė iki kaulų čiulpų.
Vertinti žmogaus memuarus gali būt tricky, nes nevertinsi jo gyvenimo, neimsi aiškint, kad vat man nepatinka ji kaip žmOgus. O Marinos gyvenimas – tikrai be proto įdomus, galbūt kažkam skaitant kirbėjo būtent taip kaip man kirbėjo skaitant Smith (kai imi galvot wtf ką aš darau su savo gyvenimu, aš turiu keliaut po pasaulį ir kurt meną ir t.t.). Bet man jos gyvenimo istorija nesurezonavo. Man nepatiko sužinoti smulkmenas apie tą paslaptingą, mistišką moterį, slypinčią už jos performancų (ypač ankstyvųjų. Vėliau ten prasidėjo tie žvelgimai į akis, kas man jau visiškai no-no). Nepatiko sužinoti, kokiomis aplinkybėmis kūrė, ką siekė savo menu mums parodyti. Neveltui pirma pamoka literatūrą besimokantiems viščiukams būna nužudyti autorių. Kai tu jį imi pažinti, kai jis sako, ką norėjo tau pasakyti, viskas taip subanalėja. Nebūtime mes su ja draugės, taip sakant, nes ji meną kelia aukščiau visko, tiki minčių skaitymais, tiki energetika ir kitais dalykais, kurie man tiesiog visai juokingi.
Tiesa, istorijos apie jos tėvus ir vaikystę – stipriausia memuarų pusė. Surijau pirmus 100 psl per vieną dieną, o antrus per porą sav... Labai įdomu skaityt apie Jugoslaviją, to meto politiką, jos išprotėjusią motiną, gražuolį donžuaną tėvą. Apie savo vaikystę ji rašo kur kas gyviau, juokingiau – su humoru ir tam tikra sveika retrospektyva. Toliau jau to cinkelio liko vis mažiau. Tai tiesiog įdomaus žmogaus gyvenimo atpasakojimas, bet toks vietomis nusaldintas, o vietom siaubingai nudramatintas su šauktukais ir „Oh God!“, su meilėm ir išdavystėm, ir „mes mylėjomės tris dienas ir tris naktis“. Gražu, faina, bet nebeliko to smagaus, žiauraus, tamsaus humoro, nuo kurio taip promisingly prasidėjo memuarai.
Tad visgi lieku iki galo nesupratusi viso šio haipo. Gyvenimas jos įdomus, performancai kai kurie tikrai labai stiprūs ir nešantys stogą (bet ne visi), o knyga – man kažkuo priminė „Apšviestoji“ – kai žmogaus gyvenimas įdomus, bet nu žmogus tai nebūtinai padefoltu rašytojas. O knygas geras turbūt geriau rašo rašytojai. 3.5 žvaigždės nuo manęs.
May 19, 2024
Świetna biografia i niezwykle fascynujące życie, ale sztuka performance’u jest dla mnie nie do końca zrozumiała, a momentami wręcz niepokojąca.
October 28, 2023
Her art is physical and demanding. It requires concentration, determination and endurance. Both her parents were brave and heroic partisans in WWII and she believes they passed on to her the steely commitment needed to “walk through walls”.
Until you understand her childhood and youth you might question how Marina Abramavic, who pioneered performance art, came from Tito’s drab grey Yugoslavia. While physically and emotionally abused by her parents, she did not live in a tiny flat with 20 relatives and was not deprived of the outside world or art. Her parents' connections helped, but she achieved on her own and her own terms.
Leaving Belgrade behind (in ways that today’s immigration rules would never permit) free of parents (more liberating for her than communism that didn’t really touch her) she carved out a new life. She loves, she dares, she performs, she travels, buys and sells homes, works with important galleries and agents, forms a foundation and prepares, like an athlete, for her performances.
You learn what it is like to sit motionless for hours/days, how one feels when self mutilating, the logistics of laying on ice and how you have to trust someone with an arrow pointed to your heart. Since it is not much discussed, nudity does not seem to be an issue for her. The best descriptions (among many great descriptions) of the emotional and physical feelings while performing were those of The Great Wall walk and “The Artist is Present”.
You follow Abramovic to meditation and cleansing retreats. You see her purification and awareness regimen for herself and others (including Lady Gaga).
The relationships with Ulay and Paulo are important for how long and deep they were and how difficult the abrupt separations were.
The book is filled with photos. There are some obligatory color photos of colleagues, but the highlights are the many B & W that help the reader envision the work.
Abramovic is vibrant and passionate. She is art and art is her. The story is hers, but in writing a life this big, decisions had to be made. Credit must be given to James Kaplan who is most likely the one who set the tone, decided on the pace, emphasis and general overview.
I highly recommend this book for those who appreciate performance art.
Until you understand her childhood and youth you might question how Marina Abramavic, who pioneered performance art, came from Tito’s drab grey Yugoslavia. While physically and emotionally abused by her parents, she did not live in a tiny flat with 20 relatives and was not deprived of the outside world or art. Her parents' connections helped, but she achieved on her own and her own terms.
Leaving Belgrade behind (in ways that today’s immigration rules would never permit) free of parents (more liberating for her than communism that didn’t really touch her) she carved out a new life. She loves, she dares, she performs, she travels, buys and sells homes, works with important galleries and agents, forms a foundation and prepares, like an athlete, for her performances.
You learn what it is like to sit motionless for hours/days, how one feels when self mutilating, the logistics of laying on ice and how you have to trust someone with an arrow pointed to your heart. Since it is not much discussed, nudity does not seem to be an issue for her. The best descriptions (among many great descriptions) of the emotional and physical feelings while performing were those of The Great Wall walk and “The Artist is Present”.
You follow Abramovic to meditation and cleansing retreats. You see her purification and awareness regimen for herself and others (including Lady Gaga).
The relationships with Ulay and Paulo are important for how long and deep they were and how difficult the abrupt separations were.
The book is filled with photos. There are some obligatory color photos of colleagues, but the highlights are the many B & W that help the reader envision the work.
Abramovic is vibrant and passionate. She is art and art is her. The story is hers, but in writing a life this big, decisions had to be made. Credit must be given to James Kaplan who is most likely the one who set the tone, decided on the pace, emphasis and general overview.
I highly recommend this book for those who appreciate performance art.
May 21, 2017
Bomba o non bomba?
Senza dubbio una discreta bomba.
Marina Abramović è un personaggio micidiale.
Mi incuriosiva, volevo saperne di più.
Qui lei non si tira indietro neanche di un centimetro e ne esce un’autobiografia che ha ben poco da invidiare a Open di Agassi.
Già mi manca. Per ora quattro stelle ma non è detto che ci ripensi. [78/100]
Sul suo metodo di insegnamento:
Per i primi tre mesi piazzo ogni studente davanti a un tavolo, con sopra mille fogli bianchi e, sotto, un cestino. Ogni giorno devono stare lì e scrivere le loro idee. Le idee che gradiscono le mettono sul lato destro del tavolo; quelle che non gradiscono le buttano nel cestino. Ma il cestino non viene mai svuotato.
Dopo tre mesi, prendo solo le idee finite nel cestino. Non guardo neanche le idee che piacevano. Il cestino, infatti, è un tesoro, una miniera delle cose che hanno paura di fare.
Su The Artist is Present, la mega-performance di tre mesi al MoMA:
La pura mole di amore, l’amore incondizionato di perfetti sconosciuti: si è trattato della sensazione più incredibile che avessi mai avuto. “Non so se questa è arte,” dissi a me stessa. “Non so cos’è quello che sto provando né so cosa sia l’arte.” Avevo sempre pensato all’arte come a qualcosa espresso mediante determinati media: pittura, scultura, fotografia, scrittura, cinema, musica, architettura. E sì, anche performance. Ma questa performance andava oltre la performance. Questa era vita. Può essere l’arte isolata dalla vita? Deve esserlo? Cominciai a essere sempre più convinta che l’arte deve essere vita – deve appartenere a tutti. Sentivo, con un’intensità mai provata prima, che ciò che avevo creato aveva uno scopo.
Senza dubbio una discreta bomba.
Marina Abramović è un personaggio micidiale.
Mi incuriosiva, volevo saperne di più.
Qui lei non si tira indietro neanche di un centimetro e ne esce un’autobiografia che ha ben poco da invidiare a Open di Agassi.
Già mi manca. Per ora quattro stelle ma non è detto che ci ripensi. [78/100]
Sul suo metodo di insegnamento:
Per i primi tre mesi piazzo ogni studente davanti a un tavolo, con sopra mille fogli bianchi e, sotto, un cestino. Ogni giorno devono stare lì e scrivere le loro idee. Le idee che gradiscono le mettono sul lato destro del tavolo; quelle che non gradiscono le buttano nel cestino. Ma il cestino non viene mai svuotato.
Dopo tre mesi, prendo solo le idee finite nel cestino. Non guardo neanche le idee che piacevano. Il cestino, infatti, è un tesoro, una miniera delle cose che hanno paura di fare.
Su The Artist is Present, la mega-performance di tre mesi al MoMA:
La pura mole di amore, l’amore incondizionato di perfetti sconosciuti: si è trattato della sensazione più incredibile che avessi mai avuto. “Non so se questa è arte,” dissi a me stessa. “Non so cos’è quello che sto provando né so cosa sia l’arte.” Avevo sempre pensato all’arte come a qualcosa espresso mediante determinati media: pittura, scultura, fotografia, scrittura, cinema, musica, architettura. E sì, anche performance. Ma questa performance andava oltre la performance. Questa era vita. Può essere l’arte isolata dalla vita? Deve esserlo? Cominciai a essere sempre più convinta che l’arte deve essere vita – deve appartenere a tutti. Sentivo, con un’intensità mai provata prima, che ciò che avevo creato aveva uno scopo.
March 30, 2019
Marina ir ši knyga verta ne tik šių penkių, bet ir visų kitų dangaus žvaigždžių.
Mėgavausi kiekvienu knygos puslapiu. Kiekvienu jos aprašytu performansu. Visgi kokią didelę dovaną padovanojo mums Marina, taip noriai įsileidusi mus į savo vidų ir viską nuoširdžiai aprodžiusi. Tie aprašyti vidiniai išgyvenimai performansų metu leido bent jau trumpam atsidurti jos kūne ir išgyventi bent dalelę tų aštrių pojūčių, suprasti tai, kas daug kam (bent jau iš pirmo žvilgsnio) atrodo kaip sadomazochistiška beprasmybė. Sunku nesižavėti tokia drąsa, ištverme, atkaklumu ir valios nepalaužiamumu. Skausmo vengimas ir malonumų vaikymasis yra viena iš didžiausių šiuolaikinio žmogaus ydų, todėl mums labai svarbu išgirsti tai, ką sako Marinos menas.
Man taip pat buvo nepaprastai įdomu skaityti apie įvairias dvasines praktikas, kuriose dalyvavo Marina. Jau beveik metus retkarčiais susimąstau apie dalyvavimą Vipassanos 10 dienų tylos stovykloje ir ši knyga buvo atsakymas į mano dvejones. Tyla yra dar vienas mums taip reikalingas gyvenimo nepatogumas, nuo kurio norisi nuolat bėgti, kad nereikėtų susidurti akis į akį su savimi ir savo viduje tūnančiomis pabaisomis. Tai mažiausiai, ką galiu pasiryžti padaryti perskaičiusi šią knygą.
Užversti tokios geros knygos paskutinį puslapį, žinant, kad tai yra autobiografija, visada yra liūdna, nes supranti, kad gyvenimų ir autobiografijų kiekis yra limituotas, net tokiam įstabiam žmogui kaip Marinai. Bet tai, ką ji vis dar išdarinėja būdama beveik 50 metų vyresnė už mane, priverčia pergalvoti savo gyvenimą ir susimąstyti, kuri gi iš mūsų yra labiau susenusi:)
Mėgavausi kiekvienu knygos puslapiu. Kiekvienu jos aprašytu performansu. Visgi kokią didelę dovaną padovanojo mums Marina, taip noriai įsileidusi mus į savo vidų ir viską nuoširdžiai aprodžiusi. Tie aprašyti vidiniai išgyvenimai performansų metu leido bent jau trumpam atsidurti jos kūne ir išgyventi bent dalelę tų aštrių pojūčių, suprasti tai, kas daug kam (bent jau iš pirmo žvilgsnio) atrodo kaip sadomazochistiška beprasmybė. Sunku nesižavėti tokia drąsa, ištverme, atkaklumu ir valios nepalaužiamumu. Skausmo vengimas ir malonumų vaikymasis yra viena iš didžiausių šiuolaikinio žmogaus ydų, todėl mums labai svarbu išgirsti tai, ką sako Marinos menas.
Man taip pat buvo nepaprastai įdomu skaityti apie įvairias dvasines praktikas, kuriose dalyvavo Marina. Jau beveik metus retkarčiais susimąstau apie dalyvavimą Vipassanos 10 dienų tylos stovykloje ir ši knyga buvo atsakymas į mano dvejones. Tyla yra dar vienas mums taip reikalingas gyvenimo nepatogumas, nuo kurio norisi nuolat bėgti, kad nereikėtų susidurti akis į akį su savimi ir savo viduje tūnančiomis pabaisomis. Tai mažiausiai, ką galiu pasiryžti padaryti perskaičiusi šią knygą.
Užversti tokios geros knygos paskutinį puslapį, žinant, kad tai yra autobiografija, visada yra liūdna, nes supranti, kad gyvenimų ir autobiografijų kiekis yra limituotas, net tokiam įstabiam žmogui kaip Marinai. Bet tai, ką ji vis dar išdarinėja būdama beveik 50 metų vyresnė už mane, priverčia pergalvoti savo gyvenimą ir susimąstyti, kuri gi iš mūsų yra labiau susenusi:)
July 8, 2019
It was Sex and the City that introduced me to Marina Abramović and just like Carrie Bradshaw, I too, was very sceptical about performance artists. Now I understand why. To read about a performance is not enough - you have to experience it. I think on some level this book IS an another performance and as a reader you become part of M. Abramović art. Her ability to tell a story is at the same time elegant AND sharp. It leaves you speechless. It leaves you confused. And after you're finished with this book (and this book is finished with you) it feels you've been guided through a very multicolour, emotionally difficult, challenging but full-of-life walk. It's not your walk, but somehow you become part of it. And that's what true art does - it connects everything.
December 17, 2016
It is extremely rare for me to say that I was better off not knowing something. This is one of those moments. I have been an admirer of Marina Abramovic’s work for many years. The depth and originality of her concepts amazes me, and the emotional intensity moves me very deeply. My exposure to her work was only through videos and descriptions. Finally I got to see her in 2015, at a TED meeting in Vancouver, and my admiration for her peaked as I saw her perform, which involved each of the two thousand attendees at the conference.
I should have kept it at that, and I wish I never picked up this book. While I enjoyed to know about her interesting life and experiences, I should have stayed away from knowing what were the things that often inspired her creations. Here is a person who believed that Australian aborigines telepathically spoke to her, and she wanted to use an Indian guru who claimed he could stay underwater for hours (and didn't want to take part in her performance in New York only because his power goes away when he tries to do it for non-religious reasons), and Brazilian shamans who believe every cell of your body hold all the memories of your life and heal emotional pains through appropriate massage, and all other shades of absurd spiritual hocus pocus. It is very hard for me to take someone seriously who explicitly believes that most things in the world has no rational explanation.
What is really interesting is that her work remains emotionally valid and incredibly powerful in spite of what motivated her, which are so far away from what I learned to be true. It is not just a clash of two belief systems, but the conflict is between unsubstantiated beliefs, and demonstrable assertions that can be rationally justified and verified. This only proves that even though an artist might think of certain conscious reasons for her creation, what actually makes them effective, touching, and powerful is the depth and sensitivity of their subconscious mind.
Now, when I see my next Abramovic, I have to try hard to forget what I have learned through this book. I still believe she is an amazing individual, but terribly confused by strange and absurd ideas about how the universe works.
I should have kept it at that, and I wish I never picked up this book. While I enjoyed to know about her interesting life and experiences, I should have stayed away from knowing what were the things that often inspired her creations. Here is a person who believed that Australian aborigines telepathically spoke to her, and she wanted to use an Indian guru who claimed he could stay underwater for hours (and didn't want to take part in her performance in New York only because his power goes away when he tries to do it for non-religious reasons), and Brazilian shamans who believe every cell of your body hold all the memories of your life and heal emotional pains through appropriate massage, and all other shades of absurd spiritual hocus pocus. It is very hard for me to take someone seriously who explicitly believes that most things in the world has no rational explanation.
What is really interesting is that her work remains emotionally valid and incredibly powerful in spite of what motivated her, which are so far away from what I learned to be true. It is not just a clash of two belief systems, but the conflict is between unsubstantiated beliefs, and demonstrable assertions that can be rationally justified and verified. This only proves that even though an artist might think of certain conscious reasons for her creation, what actually makes them effective, touching, and powerful is the depth and sensitivity of their subconscious mind.
Now, when I see my next Abramovic, I have to try hard to forget what I have learned through this book. I still believe she is an amazing individual, but terribly confused by strange and absurd ideas about how the universe works.
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